The federal Government has been forced into a $6million emergency package to prevent RAAF air traffic controllers and airfield workers with a trade from being poached by the private sector. The move - which will put an extra $30,000 in the pockets of air traffic controllers - is the latest in a series of desperate measures.

In the wake of a warning from NATO’s new top commander in Afghanistan that the international coalition is “struggling to win” and about 15,000 more troops are needed, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said he would not be increasing troop numbers in the region. However, he would not rule out using infantry in combat roles.

Labor’s policy on Afghanistan has consistently been that Australia’s presence there, rather than Iraq, represents our commitment to fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban at “the coalface”. But the promises Labor made while in Opposition are forcing our troops into a long fight that will test even the might of the United States.

Canberra’s defence spending has leapt by about 56 per cent in the past seven years to $25.66 billion, meaning it now spends more than some European Union countries. However, Australia is still dwarfed by the US, which has set aside $US696.30 billion ($832.7 billion) for its armed forces this year.

Cancelling the Super Hornet jet order could have been politically appealing for Labor. But this would have been profoundly bad policy. The Super Hornet is the right plane for Australia. The air force always thought this. Those people who know the Super Hornets’ true capabilities, many of which are classified, knew it too.

There is a disturbing hollowness to much of our force. This reflects particularly badly on the Hawke and Keating governments, which left our defence forces bedraggled and grossly under-equipped, underfunded and undermanned, while proclaiming, wholly fatuously, that they had produced the defence of Australia.

The release of the security data, which covers a period in which five Australian soldiers were killed, coincides with warnings that security will deteriorate as local people lose faith in the Afghan Government that foreign troops are supporting.

The Defence Minister will say today there is now a deeper recognition on the part of NATO and its allies that the Afghanistan campaign cannot be successful without a “much greater” effort in Pakistan. “The best way we could help in Pakistan is to share some of our expertise in counter-insurgency with the Pakistani army,” he told The Australian yesterday.

The Defence Minister’s office has confirmed that Professor Holmes, an academic from the University of Newcastle in Mr Fitzgibbon’s electorate of Hunter, accompanied the minister on his official tours in May this year. Professor Holmes, who specialises in small business economics, has no expertise in either security or defence issues.